Thanksgiving leftovers

[southern granny]

How many people are still eating Thanksgiving leftovers?  We had turkey hash for supper and ate the last two pieces of pecan pie .  I guess we will have the turkey hash once more.   I would like to think the heavy eating is over but we have two family birthdays next week.  One has requested chess cake and one wants potato candy.  I will definitely be on a diet in January.

[Rezdent]

We are.
Although I have to admit that I cooked a second (reduced) turkey today since we burned through the first one pretty fast :)

[couponvan]

We send everyone home with a goody bags of leftovers, keeping only enough to make Tex Mex Shepherd's Pie and Turkey Pot Pie.  Both freeze well and don't feel like leftovers.  (We'll finish those this month on a night I am too tired to cook.)

[Rural]

Turkey stew going in the crock today, and we'll eat on it for several days. But I didn't get around to cooking the turkey until Saturday. The stew base is broth from the wings and legs; the carcass and several meals' worth of meat are in the freezer now ( carcass will make more broth for the freezer once I free up the crock).


I have another whole turkey in the freezer, too, because 68 cents a pound. I'll cook it later when we run out of leftovers.


I never did make cranberry sauce, so I guess I'll do that today, too. Unless I can freeze whole cranberries - anybody know?

[sheepstache]

Ha ha, I'm like Rural. I bought a turkey because it was cheap and cooked it Saturday.

We have gumbo for Thanksgiving and I had to strenuously assert my right to buy a turkey because, duh, it's meat on sale.

Half of it is left now. I'll probably just chop the meat and freeze it for easy use in other dishes and then make stock.

[dorothyc]

I never did make cranberry sauce, so I guess I'll do that today, too. Unless I can freeze whole cranberries - anybody know?

Cranberries freeze wonderfully right in the bag.

[dorothyc]

I  made a 13lb turkey and I was expecting to have white meat leftover, but a couple extra people showed up, so I only have a bit of dark meat and the wings left that I put in the freezer. I have a small fridge in my apartment, so I wasn't able to pressure cook the rest of the carcass for broth. I still have ham left though, and I'm finishing stuffing and cranberry orange spiced rum sweet potatoes for lunch.
I made a second pumpkin pie on Sunday - actually a butternut squash pie, as I'd roasted the flesh intending to make soup, but ran out of energy, so I used it in pie instead. It came out really good.

[UnleashHell]

Finished the turkey on Monday  - it lasted through the main meal, picked at for snacks, sandwiches and then 2 full meals as turkey and split pea curry. Not bad for 4 of us with a 12lb bird…

[sheepstache]

I'm impressed by people who still had dessert until recently. I used the extra pumpkin pie filling I froze at Halloween and still have frozen pumpkin, but once it's ready to eat it's gone in no time.

cranberry orange spiced rum sweet potatoes

Please explain.

[Jessa]

I'm impressed by people who still had dessert until recently.

We still do big family Thanksgiving, so Grammy & cousin K made a giant turkey, each aunt/uncle/cousin brings one casserole dish potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggie, etc. So there is plenty of food for everyone but no one person has a ton of work to do. SO and I even snagged some leftover turkey & potatos to boot.

But every single person brought at least one dessert. I brought 2 dozen pumpkin whoopie pies plus two loaves of pumpkin molassas spice bread, Uncle F made a whole tray of regular whoopie pies, an apple pie, and coconut cream pie, cousin K made three trays of pumpkin squares, Mom made pecan squares, Aunt D made apple caramel cookies, Aunt R brought a creamsickle pie, sister made monkey bread....that's what I can remember. We had enough dessert for at least 40 people, and we had 17...SO and I brought home 1/4 apple pie, 1/4 coconut cream pie, 3/4 of creamsickle pie, 12 pumpkin whoopie pies, 3 regular whoopie pies, half a dozen cookies, a whole loaf of pumpkin bread....yeah. I think he took the last of it to work today, but we had leftover dessert coming out our ears.

[Eric]

I would like to think the heavy eating is over but we have two family birthdays next week.  One has requested chess cake

Mmmmmmmm, chess cake!  The key is to only eat the pieces as you take them.  That Queen tastes mighty sweet.

[dorothyc]

cranberry orange spiced rum sweet potatoes

Please explain.

Haha sorry, probably should have put some punctuation in there.

I took a third of a cup of dried cranberries (aka Craisins) and soaked them in a third of a cup Kraken Spiced Rum for about 30 minutes. Simmered about 3 lbs peeled sweet potatoes until they were tender, drained, then added the zest of an orange, the juice of half an orange and the rum soaked dried cranberries. Added salt, pepper, butter, a little cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg and mashed until smooth. Kept it warm in a slow cooker until serving time.

[sheepstache]

I'm impressed by people who still had dessert until recently.

But every single person brought at least one dessert.

 We had enough dessert for at least 40 people, and we had 17...

A-fucking-one. Your family knows what's up.

cranberry orange spiced rum sweet potatoes

Please explain.

Haha sorry, probably should have put some punctuation in there.

I took a third of a cup of dried cranberries (aka Craisins) and soaked them in a third of a cup Kraken Spiced Rum for about 30 minutes. Simmered about 3 lbs peeled sweet potatoes until they were tender, then added the zest of an orange, the juice of half an orange and the rum soaked dried cranberries. Added salt, pepper, butter, a little cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg and mashed until smooth. Kept it warm in a slow cooker until serving time.

Well now I know what I'm doing with my evening.

[Eric]

I took a third of a cup of dried cranberries (aka Craisins) and soaked them in a third of a cup Kraken Spiced Rum for about 30 minutes. Simmered about 3 lbs peeled sweet potatoes until they were tender, then added the zest of an orange, the juice of half an orange and the rum soaked dried cranberries. Added salt, pepper, butter, a little cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg and mashed until smooth. Kept it warm in a slow cooker until serving time.

Well now I know what I'm doing with my evening.

Right?!  That sounds incredible.  I've done sweet potatoes sauteed with butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar on low until they were tender enough to mash with a fork, but while tasty, it's a little too sweet.  This sounds better.

[1967mama]

Turkey Curry! (hat tip to "Bridget Jones Diary")

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/turkeycurry_78850

[dorothyc]

I took a third of a cup of dried cranberries (aka Craisins) and soaked them in a third of a cup Kraken Spiced Rum for about 30 minutes. Simmered about 3 lbs peeled sweet potatoes until they were tender, then added the zest of an orange, the juice of half an orange and the rum soaked dried cranberries. Added salt, pepper, butter, a little cinnamon and fresh grated nutmeg and mashed until smooth. Kept it warm in a slow cooker until serving time.

Well now I know what I'm doing with my evening.

Right?!  That sounds incredible.  I've done sweet potatoes sauteed with butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar on low until they were tender enough to mash with a fork, but while tasty, it's a little too sweet.  This sounds better.

Thanks guys. I did add a little brown sugar as well, that I forgot to mention in my first post. With the exception of the rum, I was inspired by a side dish they do at the hot deli counter of my local fancy grocery store (Gelsons).

[sheepstache]

Turkey Curry! (hat tip to "Bridget Jones Diary")

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/turkeycurry_78850

This was good! I used the scraps leftover from making stock for about 1/3 of the turkey called for (and regular leftover turkey for the remaining 2/3), since the curry hides their tastelessness.

[mrsggrowsveg]

I am probably the only one still eating leftovers, but can't stand wasted food.

Some of my favorite Thanksgiving conversions:

Sweet potato casserole-turned into amazing sweet potato pie
Turkey mole tacos a day after Thanksgiving tradition
Turkey Shepherds Pie
Leftover ham into ham and cheese gnocchi
Cranberry Sauce and Brie Grilled Cheese
Turkey Curry with Acorn Squash